Today's Gospel speaks of Jesus healing a man who had the worse disease of that time, leprosy. The man was bold to approach Jesus with his contagious disease. But his faith in Jesus' power to heal him was greater than the fear of rejection. Jesus healed him by doing what was also forbidden. He touched the leper. By doing so, now the person was no longer unclean, but Jesus became in the eyes of the law ritually unclean. 

Today, we have a disease that is worse than leprosy. The mere mention of the word sends shock waves into peoples' heart. It is the dread disease of cancer. As bad as cancer is, there is still a greater disease than that. It is sin, which is a spiritual cancer. Yet, does that word or its reality disturb us any way near as the thought of cancer? Cancer can take away my physical life, which was never meant to be forever. Sin will take away my spiritual life, which is forever.  We should learn from today's Gospel message. Jesus alone can heal us of our spiritual cancer. But like the man, we must go to him and ask in faith for his reconciling touch. Like the man, we must be willing to let go our disease, so we can live a new life in Christ.

 Famed psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger once gave a lecture on mental health, after which someone from the audience asked him what he would suggest that a person do in the event of a suspected impending nervous breakdown. Everyone thought that Dr. Menninger would advice as a preventive measure a visit to a psychiatrist. instead he replied: "Lock up your house, go to the other side of the railroad racks and find people i need. Then do something to help. Immerse yourself in the lives of others."

Isn't this the simple but clear message of Jesus on how to live life to the fullest? It is a message of love and service. It takes us out of so much self focus to other focus. When Peter felt so much shame and guilt from his triple denial of Jesus, what did Jesus asked of him? "Do you love me? Then feed my sheep."  Stop navel gazing, Peter. There are many who need your help. Feeling sorry for yourself will not bring you relief. But loving another in my name will begin your healing process. "When I was hungry and you fed me" did not only take care of another's need but took care of yours. 

Homily Thirteenth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: The woman recognized the holiness of Elisha and provided for his needs. Unconnected but as a result, she received a gift from God, a child. The gift of hospitality to his prophet is rewarded by God. God sees the heart of the woman. Her honoring Elisha was her way of recognizing God and trying to respond to what God commanded, namely to show hospitality.

Her focus was God. Elisha was just the recipient of her faith and love, her commitment to God. We can’t have a real, true relationship with God without it being expressed in the ways pleasing to God.

Her hospitality ties in with the Gospel. Whoever receives a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Who are the prophets and holy ones who come into our lives? Do we recognize them to be such? How do we treat them and why?

Gospel: We have a series of independent sayings of Jesus that center around the relationship of a disciple to Jesus as Lord and Master. He is the center of our lives.

It is not that Jesus wants us to hate our parents, that would be in opposition to the Fourth Commandment. But in loving and being obedient to them, we are to love and be obedient more to Jesus, if we acknowledge him as the Lord of our lives.

The same is true with other family members. We are not to focus so much on them that we neglect our relationship with Jesus. The focus is not our life, but our life in Christ Jesus. For Jesus to be the center of our lives will not take anything away from our other relationships, but will continue to enhance. That’s the paradox.

The second series of sayings deal with the role of disciples because of our relationship with Jesus and how the disciple should be received and treated by others. The focus again is not who the disciple is in his/her own person, but who the disciple is in Christ Jesus. Those who receive, accept and provide for that disciple will be reared as if they were receiving, accepting and providing for Christ himself. “What you do to the least, you do to me.”

So we reflectively ask: Is Jesus in the center of our life or on the fringe or just one among many? Whatever is in the center controls the whole. So what is in the center of our life? What is in control? If it is Christ, then we will make different choices; we will see thing differently; we will value things differently. The crosses of our lives will not be stumbling blocks but ladders to climb closer to God, a bridge over trouble waters.

Reading 2: The focus is our identity in Christ and the effects of this identity.  Christ died for our sins. In baptism we too, in a sense, died to sin, the sin that alienated us from God. But as Jesus rose from the dead, in baptism, we too rose from the death of alienation to live a new life in Christ.  Something drastically happened. We became a new creature.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our death to sin, we too will rise with him at our death to the fullness of that new life we received in baptism. This is our faith. We are not to fear physical death because it has no power over us. We will pass from physical death to eternal life with God, if we live for God in Christ Jesus.

What should our response be to this gift of God? We are called to intentionally put aside the areas of sin in our life, which would prevent us from being with God eternally. This is a life-time process, but one that happens one act of love at a time.

 "A fish that is alive swims against the flow of water. One that is dead floats down with the water. A true Christian goes against the current of a sinful age. A false one is swept away by its swiftness." (St. Philaret of Moscow)

Jesus' message in his day was religiously counter cultural. Like the prophets before him, he called people back to the truth of God's revelation. It was offensive to many who were comfortable where they were in relationship to God. The message of Jesus will always be reacted to, even by those who claim to be his disciples. The question is will they follow Jesus, even though they do not understand or find his teaching hard, or will they do an accommodation or interpretation of his message to fit in society? When 40 Catholic elected officials write a public letter defending abortion as a right, is this following Jesus' teaching or is it accommodation to remain elected? In today's Gospel, Jesus warns us to beware of wolves in sheep clothing.  Following Jesus is never meant to be easy. Yet, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

 Thirteenth Sunday Gospel A

Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 

· Jesus' point is not rejection of family ties but greater loyalty to God. He is not contradicting the Fourth Commandment which states: “Honor your father and mother. It is a matter of priority. God is to be first in our life.

· How hard is that to do? It is easier to say than to do.

and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. 

· This is the first time in Mathew’s Gospel that the word “cross” is mentioned by Jesus. Yet, it is central to his teaching and life. He embraced it for our sake. Why do you think he makes this statement?

· Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the Romans for criminals who were not Roman citizens.

· What constitutes the cross in our life at this time?

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  

· How do you understand this statement of Jesus?  Can I have real life without Jesus? For this to happen, what in my present way of living needs to be let go for that which is greater?

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man's reward. 

· In the eyes of many, even today, Jesus, a prophet and a righteous man, is looked upon as no extraordinary person.  Thus, to follow him and believe in him is not that important to them. Only those who believe in him and commit their lives to him receive the reward.

· What do you think this reward is?

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple--amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward." 

· What are the conditions for discipleship laid out by Jesus in this reading?

· What part of this passage you find the hardest to fulfill now in your life?

· Even the smallest sign of kindness, mercy, compassion and love is promised a reward by Jesus.

· Recall the words of Jesus: “Whatever you do to the least, you do to me.” How conscious are we of Jesus’ presence in each person, beginning with our family?

 Several years ago, a cartoon was making the rounds. It showed a Roman arena packed with spectators. On the floor of the arena was a group of people surrounded by lions. Amid the crowds in the stands were two people, highlighted by the artist to let us know one of them was speaking to the other. The caption read, "I’m a Christian, myself, but I'm not fanatical about it." 

Unfortunately, this may be the attitude of many who call themselves Christian. It is like a membership card that may get you certain special treatments, but only used if it is beneficial. How does this picture fit in with the teachings of Jesus on discipleship? For him, to be a disciple of his one must be all in, not half in and half out. Those who were partial disciples left when things got too demanding. Lukewarm disciples are spewed out by Jesus. The defining moment of any disciple of Jesus is the cross. "If you are not willing to take up your cross daily and follow me, you cannot be my disciple." Are we following the Lord? Are we following what is convenient for us? A disciple doesn't hide his relationship with Jesus. If we are ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of us before his Father. The disciple follows Jesus on the narrow road that leads to life and avoids the wide road that leads to destruction. Discipleship is a free call and a free response.

According to a fable, The Two Bags, written by Aesop that: “According to ancient lore, every man is born into the world with two bags suspended from his neck, one in front and one behind, and both are full of faults. But the one in front is full of his neighbor’s faults; the one behind full of his own. Consequently, men are blind to their own faults but never lose sight of their neighbor’s.”

Jesus addresses a similar situation in his teaching on not judging others. We are to condemn objective sin, not the subjective person. But we should start with our own sins first. For when we condemn our own sins, we don't have time to condemn the sins of another. The true judge of everyone is God. If we want God to be merciful to me, a sinner, I need to be merciful to the other, who is a sinner like me. Instead of judging the other, we should pray for the other and for ourselves not to sin.

 "When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares." Henri Nouwen

Do we have such a person in our life? Whether we are aware of it, Jesus is that person in each of our lives. Who has more love, compassion, concern and sincere interest in us than Jesus? He is there in all circumstances of our lives, whether we feel his presence or not. Jesus wants the best for us, not just what is good. He wants our eternal salvation, for which he died on the cross, enabling us to be saved. Every time we fall, he is there to pick us up and encourage us to continue our journey with him. There is no greater friend to have in our lives than Jesus. How do we treat him or respond to him?

 'Compassion born in solitude makes us very much aware of our own historicity. We are not called to respond to generalities but to the concrete facts with which we are confronted day after day. A compassionate man can no longer look at these manifestations of evil and death as disturbing interruptions of his life plan but rather has to confront them as an opportunity for the conversion of himself and his fellow human beings. Every time in history that men and women have been able to respond to the events of their world as an occasion to change their hearts, an inexhaustible source of generosity and new life has been opened, offering hope far beyond the limits of human prediction.

Jesus is the greatest example of compassion that we can imitate. He saw the vast number of people who flocked to him to be taught and to be healed. His heart was moved to concern for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. He couldn't solve all their problems, but he solved the concerns of one individual at a time. It reminds me of the story of the starfish that were washed upon the shore after a hurricane. A runner was jogging on the beach and saw the vast number of stranded starfish. There was nothing he could do, he thought, until he came upon another jogger who was doing a curious thing. He went to her and asked what was she doing? She said, I am trying to save these stranded starfish. He laughed and said that there were too many. She bent down, picked one up and then threw it into the sea. She said that he was right, she couldn't save them all, but at least she can save one at a time. She had the right understanding of compassion. Reaching one person at a time. We can't solved the hunger of the world. But we can do something for this one hungry person.

Homily Twelfth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: The prophet Jeremiah, because he has spoken the word of God to the Chosen People who had been unfaithful to God, is persecuted by them. The word he spoke from God was something they did not want to receive or accept. God told them that a time of chastisement is coming, in which they would be taken into exile by their enemies. They were not to resist, but to surrender to the will of God.

Though Jeremiah didn’t expect the strong negative response against him, he knew that this word came from God and needed to be said. In the midst of the persecution, where did Jeremiah find his comfort? He knew the Lord was the one who called him and gave him the words to say. He knew that the Lord was with him in spite of his difficulties.

Instead of running away and hiding, Jeremiah trust himself to the Lord. Even when he does, he is still imperfect. He wants to see the vengeance God will bring upon his enemies. In the Gospel, Jesus shows us the perfect way, namely forgiveness.

Gospel: Jesus begins by telling the twelve and us: Do not be afraid of what people may do and do not be ashamed to proclaim the good news of God, his mercy. Do not be afraid because of the possibility or reality of persecution, even death. God is with us and will care for us.

What are we to witness in the midst of difficulties? We are to proclaim the love of God, his providence and his great mercy. We are to stand firm because God is with us thought the storms of others’ anger rage around us.

In Baptism, we were sealed with the oil of Chrism and told that we now share in the life of Christ as priest, prophet and king. In Confirmation we were again anointed by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of God’s love and mercy to us and to others. When we came into the awareness and own the reality that God has loved and saved us through his death and resurrection and shared his life with us, then this revelation needs to be publicly proclaimed.

If we act on that call and acknowledge what God has and is doing, Jesus promises to acknowledge us before his Father. What does that mean? We will be with God forever. But if we do not acknowledge him by silence or out of fear of what people may do in response, Jesus will not acknowledge us before his Father. What does that mean? Eternal alienation from God. If we deny him, he will deny us. Wow!

To reject Jesus is to reject the grace that he gives us. To ignore or reject what he has commanded us to do in response to what he has done for us, is to be ungrateful and thus unworthy of eternal life with him.

Reading 2: Paul acknowledges two realities: 1) that of sin and death and 2) that of God’s grace and mercy. Sin is part of the life of each of us. We have all sinned many times over, even after experiencing God’s mercy. But unmerited grace is the remedy to sin. God’s forgives those who repent of their sins and turn back to God. This grace comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus. We don’t earn it. All we can do is receive it, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. He recognized his sin and turned to the mercy of God, which he experienced.

What lessons do we take from today’s scriptures? What response should we give to the Word of God?

 “Take care above all things, most honored lady, not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again n heave; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies forever, and enjoy eternal happiness.” (St. Aloysius)

What a powerful testimony to faith by a young adult! I share this because death is always hard to face, especially the death of a young person and especially for the parents. Mourning is part of the process of grieving a loss. But putting that loss into eternal perspective will enable the person to move more quickly through. How do we see life? Do we see it as something to cling to, even in the face of death or do we see life as a process to something greater, eternity with God? We are called to face death, either our own or that of another with the attitude of Paul. “O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory?’ “In Jesus, we live and move and have our being.”

 Twelfth Sunday Gospel  A

Jesus said: "Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. 

· Jesus tells us not to be afraid in times of persecution or rejection because of our loyalty to him.  When were the times I was afraid to be counted as a follower of Jesus and instead gave in to peer pressure? When were the times I spoke the truth about moral issues even though it was not well received?

· The first reason given by Jesus: He knows all and all will be revealed. The deeds done in darkness will be made known in the light. The deeds of evil will be overcome by the deeds of good. God promises that evil will not win out in the end because Jesus has won the victory on the cross.

 What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

· We are called not to act in darkness but always in the light. We are children of the light not of darkness.

· A disciple of Jesus is bold and public about his/her witness to the truth revealed by Jesus.

· Is there an area of darkness I am struggling with now?  Have I ever experience inner peace and freedom when I was able to bring something from darkness into the light?

 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

· The second reason given by Jesus: in truth those who persecute us have limited powers. Yes, they can harm or even destroy our bodies, but they have no power over the soul. The body is going to die in any event, but the soul will live eternally. The question is whether we will live eternally in condemnation or glory.

· The true fear is “fear of God”, which is not fear in the strict sense but reverential awe of his person and his love. It is a gift of the Spirit. Do I pray for such a gift from God?

 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

· The third reason given by Jesus: God’s compassionate and everlasting, personal and redemptive love for each of us. Our full and true worth is found in our relationship to God.

· Am I convinced of God’s love for me or is it something I think I have to merit?

Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

· Instead of fear or cowardice before others, we are challenged by Jesus to take advantage of the opportunities to publicly acknowledge the truth about Jesus and our relationship with him.

· If we do, he promises to be our advocate before His Father on the day we will have to give an account of our life.

· If we do not, he warns us that he will not stand by us on the Day of Judgment.

· What spoke to me in the Gospel passage?

· In my desire to respond to God’s word, what action do I feel I want to take?

There was a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller travelled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.

“No, Peter,” General Washington said. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.” “My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy I have.” “What?” cried Washington, “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I’ll grant your pardon.” And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata, no longer an enemy but a friend. This is a concrete example of loving our own enemies.

For a disciple of Jesus, forgiveness is not an option but an obligation. God has forgiven me when I was an enemy by giving his life in place of mine, so that I could live eternally with him. That is a debt I can never begin to repay. When I, in turn, forgive another for the wrong doing they did to me, I am not being generous, but grateful to God for his forgiveness. It is not  the other who is the focus, but God with whom I want to remain in relationship with. I don't want the other person to come in between me and God. When I fail to forgive, I placed that person's wrong doing in between me and God. I allow the other person to be a block to my eternal salvation. So, when I struggle to forgive another, look at the cross and decide who is more important, Jesus or the other.

 There is a Spanish proverb that says: "To return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is godlike."

Retaliation is a behavior response that may be natural for our fallen nature, by is not the response of a son or daughter of God. In today's Gospel, Jesus holds his followers to a higher standard of behavior. It is definitely not an eye-for-an-eye human response, but love for evil. It is the response Jesus himself modeled for us in his own life. When he was maligned, he did not do the same. When he was beaten, he did not fight back. He defended himself by choosing to rise about the effects of sin. He did so to teach us another way of life, one that leads to the fullness of life. We can bomb each other and we will have a destroyed world. We can return good for evil. It may not change the other, but it prevents the other from changing me to be like the other.

 "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even t exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love." (St Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The heart is a symbol of love. It is a feast acknowledging the love Jesus has for us and the love we should have in return. A wedding anniversary is a time to renew the love between a couple. On this feast we are called to renew our love for the One who said, "Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for a friend." Love can be taken for granted.  But love that is not stirred up into flame regularly becomes a dying ember that can slowly go out. By responding to love with love we are showing the debt of our gratitude to our one true Lover.

 The reason we become anemic spiritually is that we are like the other batteries in the Duracel Battery commercial. We don't have the extra energy to go on and on and on. We start off strong, but soon because of a drain in our spiritual energy cells, we began to slow down and come to an abrupt stop.

We need once more to catch the vision of Jesus and to become captured by the person and the vision of Jesus--the same one who motivated Paul and Peter, Mary and Martha,  Theresa of Avila and Ignatius of Loyola , John Paul II and Mother Teresa,  For them and all the great spiritual heroes and heroens of our Christian faith community, known and unknown, the vision centered on Jesus. They fell in love with the one person who had and continued to make a difference in their lives. In Jesus they had found the pearl of great price. For this relationship they were willing to sell all they had for the sake of Jesus. Like Paul they regarded all else as rubbish. They never lost sight of the goal--life on high with Christ Jesus. The call of the kingdom of God became greater than the call of the kingdom of this world. In spite of trials and difficulties, in spite of spiritual deserts and dryness, in spite of struggles with sin within their imperfect human nature, they pressed on to the finish. Return to your first love and keep your eyes solidly on Jesus.

 "Our true challenge is to return to the center, to the heart, and to find there the gentle voice that speaks to us and affirms us in a way no human voice ever could. The basis of all ministry is the experience of God’s unlimited and unlimiting acceptance of us as beloved children, an acceptance so full, so total and all-embracing, that it sets us free from our compulsion to be seen, praised, and admired and frees us for Christ, who leads us on the road of service.

 Eleventh Sunday Gospel A

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. 

· The phrase, sheep without a shepherd, recalls several Old Testament passages that describe God's people as sheep neglected by their shepherds (I Kings 22:17; Jer. 23:1-6; Ezek. 34:1-10; Micah 5:2-4).  God said that he would shepherd his people and provide true shepherds for them.

· Do we share in the compassion of Jesus for those who do not yet know the full gospel message?  How do we reach out to them?

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." 

· What are we doing to respond today to this word of Jesus?

Then he summoned his twelve disciples 

· The number is significant since it links the chosen disciples to the twelve tribes of Israel and indicates Jesus' authority from the Father to call all Israel into the promised kingdom.

and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. 

· They were commissioned to perform the same activities in his name that Jesus engaged in his own ministry: proclaiming the good news and curing the sick. The third aspect of Jesus’ ministry that of teaching is not conveyed to the disciples until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The names of the twelve apostles are these:

· The word “apostle” means one who is sent. Very appropriate here since Jesus is sending them to proclaim the message of the kingdom.

first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. 

· In all the lists of the apostles, Peter is always listed first to indicate that early on the faith community recognized Peter’s primacy among the twelve.

· Jesus chose men from opposite ends of the spectrum: Matthew a tax collector to Simon, the zealot. In other circumstances the two could not be in each other’s company for the zealots hated the tax collectors who were Roman puppets.

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. 

· The initial missionary endeavor of the twelve was to Israel, not yet to the Gentiles, just as Jesus’ initial proclamation was to the chosen people of the covenant, primarily the towns in Galilee.

· We are called by Jesus to do the same as the twelve: to proclaim the message of love and to cure. the sick in his name. What are we doing to fulfill these two aspects of our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ?

· What does it mean: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give?” How are you responding to the truth of that statement?

 "Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak." (St. Augustine)

Jesus said the same idea in another way. A good tree is known by the good fruit it bears. Or again he said it is not the one who says "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of God. Or again, man judges from outward appearances; God sees the heart. Being a disciple of the Lord, with the identity of a Christian, is not a badge we wear but a life we live in relationship with God. What touches the hearts of those seeking the truth is not words, but a way of life to follow.

How many people have felt the same as Mahatma Ghandi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” How many people are turned off because of the life style of some Christians. In the same way, how many people have turned to become a Catholic because of the witness of a true believe.

There is this story from an Unknown Source that an old man was asked what had robbed him of joy the most in his lifetime. He replied, “Things that never happened!” Somebody also has cited three keys to happiness: 1) Fret not, He loves you (John 13:1), 2) Faint not, He holds you (Psalm 139:10), 3) Fear not, He keeps you (Psalm 121:5).

What robs us of joy and inner peace is losing sight of God in our lives at the moments we most need him. There will always be situations that impact our lives. We have no control over them. What we have control of is whether our focus will be on the situation or on the person of Jesus Christ. He reminds us of his love, his presence and his strength. Focusing on these will help us, not to avoid situations, but to not be overwhelmed by them. He is true to his word and his promises.

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you love your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”

Loving another person is not based on whether that person is deserving of love, but on God's command to me to love as God has loved me. Sometimes we withhold our love for selfish reason: to punish the other person or to show them how much they have hurt us. Who suffers? In the end, we do, because we separate ourselves from God more than from the other. When we withhold love we restrict our opening to God's love. We are telling God to treat us in the same way. Is that really what we want?

Homily Feast of Corpus Christi Year A

Reading 1: God prefigured and foreshadowed the gift of his Body and Blood by the lesser gift of manna to feed the Israelites in the desert. Moses reminded the people toward the end of their journey that the gift of manna was given to them, not just to feed their bodies, but to remind them of several things.

1)   Through their forty year journey in the desert, God directed their journey to test whether they would keep his commandments and thus enter into the Promised Land. 2) They were to remember that bread is important to live physically, but God’s word and obedience to it is necessary to live eternally. 3) They were not to forget what God had done for them.

What is the application for us? Our life journey is to test our acceptance and commitment to God. This will determine whether we will be with God or not in eternity. This test is based on the acceptance of and the embracing of the word of God as our way of life. Finally, like the Israelites, this realization that we must not forget what God has done for us, must be recalled to mind and celebrated in thanksgiving.

Reading 2: The bread and wine are changed, transformed radically and substantially into the Body and Blood of Christ. Thus, when we partake, we partake not in bread and wine but the very Body and Blood of Christ. Our oneness with Christ in the Eucharist also signifies our oneness with each other because of the Eucharist.

How conscious are we of each of these reality? God dwells in me and I in God. Mystery of faith beyond reason! What is happening after Communion during those moments of intimacy with Jesus? How conscious are we when we leave the Church of this presence and oneness with God? Because it is the same Jesus in me as in you, by his presence we are united as brothers and sisters. How can I choose to sin against another, if I am conscious of this mystery? How can I choose to say or think negative against another, who also receive Jesus in Eucharist? What is our disposition after Communion?

Gospel: The focus of the Gospel message is that to eat the Body and Blood of Christ is not a symbolic gesture. In faith, we are consuming the real Body and Blood of Jesus. To eat his Body is to have eternal life. Human beings have looked for the fountain of youth. This is the fountain of life that exists after physical death. Everyone desires to live forever. True life is not physical life, which is here today and gone tomorrow, but divine life of God which is eternal.

How much clearer can Jesus be? Unless you eat my Body and drink my Blood you will not have eternal life. He is talking about an internal, invisible reality.

The Pew Research Center a few years ago did a survey of Catholics concerning their belief in the Eucharist. They discovered that only one-third of Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. From observing over the years how people approach the Eucharist and what they do afterwards, I tend to believe that this statistic is accurate, unfortunately.

Am I complacent or attentive when I receive the Eucharist? Do I approach the moment of Communion as a matter of fact or out of routine? Or do I realize how unworthy I am to receive the God of Gods the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, True God and True Man into this sinful body?  Am I overwhelmed each time I receive, reflecting on the words I said prior: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Approach in awe and wonder and celebrate in thanksgiving the love of God shown us in such marvelous ways.

 “I think love – deep human love, does not know death… Real love says, ‘Forever.’ Love will always reach out toward the eternal. Love comes from that place within us where death cannot enter. Love does not accept the limits of hours, days, weeks, months, years, or centuries. Love is not willing to be imprisoned by time.” (Henri Nouwen)

This is a reflection of what is found in the Song of Songs: "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; For Love is strong as Death, longing is fierce as Sheol. Its arrows are arrows of fire, flames of the divine. Deep waters cannot quench love nor rivers sweep it away. Were one to offer all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly despised." (8:6-7) If this is true of real human love, how much is it true of the love between a person and God. 

Then we have the teaching of St. Paul. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:36-37) How powerful is true love!

 Feast of Corpus Christi   Gospel A

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 

· In talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus in Jn 4 said he would give her living water and again in Jn 7:37 Jesus invited all those who thirst to come to him and he would give them living water. What is this living water? The gift of the Spirit. Now, he says he is the living bread. 

· What does “living water” do and what does “living bread” do? What is the connection between our physical needs and our spiritual needs?

· He says that he is the living bread that came down from heaven. What would this remind the Jews of? The Manna in the desert; God’s providence.  What is the connection between God providing for his people in the desert and God providing for us today?

·    We eat in order to sustain physical life. Jesus feeds us with his Body and Blood to sustain our life with God, not just for the moment but for eternity.

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 

· On first take they thought he was talking about cannibalism.  Because of their dietary laws, the Jews would only eat clean “flesh” not anything considered to be unclean according to the Law.  And definitely no faithful Jew would think of eating human flesh.

·    The fact that they quarreled among themselves indicates that some accepted this saying and others did not.

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 

· Anytime Jesus uses the phrase “Amen, amen,” he is making a statement that is absolutely true.

· Do we approach the Eucharist with this understanding?

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 

· Notice Jesus doesn’t try to explain what he means. If we believe in him, we will believe in his words, no matter if we don’t understand. Faith is primarily an assent to a person.

· How conscious are we of the union and intimacy between Jesus and ourselves, when we receive him in Communion?

·    He makes himself very clear by saying “my flesh is true food….blood…true drink.” It is not a symbol but the real body and blood of Jesus.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 

· The great difference between the manna and the Body and Blood of Jesus is that the former fed only the body for a short period; while the later brings spiritual nourishment at the deepest level.

· What is our understanding of Eucharist? What is our experience of Eucharist?

· The primary focus of the Eucharist is the reception for spiritual nourishment. The secondary focus is adoration. Sometimes people reverse the intention of Jesus.

 "Of one thing I am sure. Complaining is self-perpetuating and counterproductive. Whenever I express my complaints in the hope of evoking pity and receiving the satisfaction I so much desire, the result is always the opposite of what I tried to get. A complainer is hard to live with, and very few people know how to respond to the complaints made by a self-rejecting person. The tragedy is that, often, the complaint, once expressed, leads to that which is most feared: further rejection. . . . Joy and resentment cannot coexist." (Henri Nouwen)

How often we fall into the trap of complaining about different things or different people. It neither builds them or us up. No one enjoys being around a complainer. Instead of complaining, which no one wants to hear, it would be better for us to find something positive and upbuilding to say or to say nothing. For some of us this will be initially difficult, because of our previous negative habit. But in time our outlook will change and so will the response of others to us. The principle we are to follow is: Do nothing to sadden the Holy Spirit.

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you." (Ps 116:7) 

How often do we take time to reflect on the goodness of God to us? His goodness never ceases from the rising of the sun to its setting each day. Does our gratitude have the same response? What will our day be like, if we were conscious of the goodness of God and of our desire to respond to his goodness? Doing so will not interfere with our daily routine of life, but will enrich it. Try today to be more attentive to the little ways God shows his goodness and to be attentive to responding to his goodness. His goodness is a grace. Our response is a grace.

 “God will give us whatever we want, asking in prayer what we truly want, not what we say we want or even think we want. God listens to the heart, not to the lips. He knows, too, how limited is our understanding and knowledge. He sees our truest desires and knows how they can best be fulfilled. And this is what He grants.” (Basil Pennington)

 No one wants to burn in the fires of hell. We all want to ultimately be happy and in eternal peace. This desire is imbedded in us from the time we are born. God created us to be fulfilled only in him. When we pray, though what we pray for may not resonate with this deeper desire, God in his love will give that which will enable us to reach our fulfillment. Isn’t that what St. James means when he says we need to pray according to the will of God for us. His will is our ultimate happiness.

 "Joy is essential to the spiritual life. Whatever we may think of or say about God, when we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away. Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. . . . Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us." (Henri Nouwen)

It is so sad to see so many joyless Christians. They are only nominal Christians. What is lacking in their life is the conviction that they are loved by God, not because of who they are but who God is. It is my choice to accept, believe and live this grace of God's love.  And when I do, the fruit of God's love in me will be that inner joy that will sustain me in all circumstances. No wonder St. Paul would exclaim: "Rejoice in the Lord always."